This one is for my friend Tim Simmonds who likes to bang on about music and worship in the church.
“Clement of Alexandria is the earliest Christian writer to discuss what kind of music is appropriate for Christian use. He directs that it should not be the kind associated with erotic dance music; the melodies should avoid chromatic intervals and should be austere.”
There you have it Tim, no Lady GaGa.
As pants the hart for cooling streams/ When heated in the chase;/ S0 longs my soul, O God for thee/And thy refreshing grace
For thee, my God, the living God,/ My thirsty soul doth pine;/ O when shall I behold thy face,/ Thou Majesty divine?
My thirsty soul doth pine. Really? I’m not sure that’s always how I’d describe my soul. Sometimes Pre-occupied, tired and distracted suit it better. Sometimes self-sufficient, prideful or lazy would be better matches.
Perhaps the worst of all tragedies is to die of thirst but never realise that readily available water would save you. My soul dies for lack of water, for lack of the presence of God. Yet sometimes I don’t realise this is happening. Which is why regular time with God is so crucial and a battle that I must engage in.
Lord save me, wake me up to the state of my soul and then quench my thirst with your streams of living water.
This 3 minute video gives the motivation
This one gives you the song
Save me save me
From the kingdom of comfort where I am king
From my unhealthy lust of material things
I built myself a happy home
In my palace on my own
My castle falling in the sand
Pull me out, please grab my hand
I just forgot where I came from
Save me save me
From the kingdom of comfort where I am king
From my unhealthy lust of material things
I rob myself of innocence
With the poison of indifference
I buy my stuff at any cost
A couple of clicks and I pay the price
Coz what I gain is someone else’s loss
Save me save me
From the kingdom of comfort where I am king
From my unhealthy lust of material things
Save me save me
From the kingdom of comfort where I am king
To this kingdom of heaven where you are king
It’s a spiritual song of searching and longing. It’s also one of confusion and at the end of the day hopelessness. You get the feeling from the song that they think, ‘it would be nice if Jesus did die for me but I just can’t believe it’. There are a lot of obstacles to faith.
I talked of the search for significance and meaning, the quest for hope and love and I said it could be found in Jesus. I had less than 10 minutes, so I’ve no idea what sunk in, but maybe something did.
Here are some others that have reflected on this new Robbie Williams song:
Hey, I put some new shoes on and suddenly everything is right”
Something wrong in your life? Then what you need to do is buy something new and it will all change. That is essentially the basic message of most product advertising. It’s quite a claim. ANy other suggestions?
“And I am a weapon of massive consumption and its not my fault it’s how I’m program to function”
The media say we’re living in a consumer culture, our pop singers say we are in a consumer culture and some in the church say we’re in a consumer culture. So who in the church is leading any kind of response to this?
Still, here’s the song…have a listen
218 albums is about 14 a year or just over one a month. Actually, I’ve not bought all those and before you chasten me for stealing, I was sent a fair number to review – most of the Christian music came to me that way. Even so, that’s a lot of music and represents about £3000 worth of stuff.
I probably listen to more now it’s on my laptop – but it just showed me again how stuff just creeps into your life and before you know it, there’s a tonne of it that clogs up your home and your life. Best to resist at point of purchase, prevention is easier than cure. I might catalogue my books at some point and that will really scare me silly.
I believe Jesus when he said 'life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions'. I believe he offers something better. This blog is mostly about that search.
I'm also a husband, a father, church planter, keen runner, reader, and motorcyclist. These and a few other things make guest appearances from time to time.
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